Union Station--page 1 (of two pages)

Reed and Stem
1911

A monumental domed station

This station was designed by the same architects who created New York City's Grand Central Station. Like many early twentieth railroad stations (see Union Station in Washington D. C., for example), it is based on classical precedents. This station in part owes to the Pantheon in Rome. While other stations use the idea of the rotunda, often barrel-vaulted spaces flank the dome. Here, although two wings flank the central space, the rotunda space stands alone. This important station was the terminus of the Northern Pacific railroad.

A renovated building

With the decline in importance of the railroad, this station was vacated. In the late 1980's Union Station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and then was subsequently renovated. The station reopened in 1992 as a Federal Courthouse with the interior rotunda being an exhibition space.